Funny

Last weekend we held our second Christmas – complete with cracker jokes and paper hats.

There we all were, towards the end of January with our full Turkey Dinner, crackers, presents, party games and a bit of booze to merry us along. One year we even had the tree and lights out again! The kids love catching up with their cousins and we get to sit and relax with family just like on the big day itself.

This tradition started one year when one family member had been ill over Christmas and therefore hadn’t managed to enjoy the festivities on the day. We thought it would be great to give Christmas a second chance in January or February, exchange presents and re-enact it all. It’s been such a success that we now plan head for our second Christmas, getting the date in well before 25 December itself.

An added bonus is that it takes the pressure off over the Christmas break, when we used to spend long frustrating days driving up and down the country to make sure that we saw all the family. One memorable Boxing Day was spent in a traffic jam on the M6 with our toddler howling his head off for now apparent reason for literally hours. Now we know that we will all see each other at Second Christmas, so there is no pressure to dash about ticking family off the list.

Yet more presents!

The kids get to open their presents from aunties and uncles, we get to have a few drinks with family and most importantly relax. I don’t think there is any other time in the year, other than Christmas, when we allow ourselves to chill out, enjoy good food and company for a whole day. It feels incredibly indulgent to give yourself the day off again in the New Year and not adhere to your weekend routine of kids clubs, chores, grocery shopping and so on.

We share out the responsibilities and cost for the Christmas Dinner so that it’s not too much for any one host, and we all bring along left over Christmas crackers, chocolates and anything else that is still fit to be consumed.

The downsides, if there are any, are that it doesn’t help with Dry January or any new year diets! I did also wonder what the passengers on the Number 108 bus thought we were doing with our Christmas cracker hats on in the middle of January.

Is your New Year fitness resolution becoming a challenge? Are your fitness goals looking unrealistic?

Joining a gym just isn’t for me. I was put off years ago at the sight of sweaty muscle men grunting as they lifted an impossible bar of weights, and by the ladies in the changing room that paraded around naked as they got changed, and then put on a full face of make-up before heading home to bed. I just don’t fit in.

Aerobics and steps classes are not my scene. I’m the one who steps left when everyone else moves right, and I just don’t feel like I’m part of the in-crowd. I’m worried that Zumba would be a step too far, and Salsacise just reminds me of food.

I’ve tried Spin (crazy cycling to music for 30 minutes) but I mistrust that anyone else EVER raises the resistance level on their bikes when the instructor says so. They can’t possibly keep peddling against that level of resistance and still be able to walk out of the room at the end of the session.

Cats are better at yoga than me (Image: Flikr)

Pilates and Yoga have also had my custom, and I got on OK with them, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was lying down for an hour and not really getting a workout. (note – I now understand the difference between cardio and strength training!) But now there aren’t any classes nearby that fit in my busy week.

If like me you just can’t (and don’t want to) keep up with the glamourous, co-ordinated fitness extroverts, then there are other options for keeping up your New Year fitness regime.

Set your own fitness goals

Setting fitness goals can feel a bit like you’re setting yourself up to fail, so for me the important thing is to set goals that are right for me. They might be too much or too little for the next person, but this is not a competition – it’s about you and no-one else. In running, it’s all about the Personal Best (PB), which is an individual measure and a great principle to transfer to any activity you do. Personalise your fitness goals to suit your expectations and no-one else’s.

Build activity into your normal day

I try and run, walk or cycle if I’ve got errands to do locally. I did look like a bit of a loon this morning jogging with a carrier bag full of clothes to take my Next returns back to the local retail park, but it killed two birds with one stone. Cycling is fun – you feel like a teenager all over again and the sense of freedom is great.

Count your steps with a pedometer or a phone app as that really makes you realise how sedentary you can be – on days that I’m office based I can just get over 2,000 steps – no-where near my 10,000 daily steps goal!

Join a team

A few years ago I joined a local netball club at the same time as a friend. I hadn’t played netball since school, and initially wasn’t very good at it. She’s since moved on to other things (and is awesome at them!) but I have kept going and now can hold my head up on the court. I’m not a great player but am doing OK through perseverance and the lucky circumstance of being slightly taller than average.

As well as fitness and challenging myself to develop a skill I’ve met so many lovely women and broadened my social circle. There’s a wonderful initiative by England Netball called Back to Netball that is a great entry point for people new to the sport, or those who haven’t played for years. If netball’s not for you then search for women’s basketball, football, korfball or a racquet sport. Teams and clubs are great motivators to keep going with a sport.

Run rabbit run

Run rabbit run! (image:PDSA)

I started running a few years back, after various post-children health problems were sorted out, and whilst I haven’t always stuck with it I have definitely now made running part of my life. At first I could only jog 100 yards before walking for a bit, but now I am running 5k twice a week, and really love that chance to get out on my own with just music for company. There’s loads of couch to 5k apps that can help you on this journey, and I’ve found Runkeeper and ParkRun to be great motivators to set your own PB goals and keep going with them.

Work on your Apps

I have a few free apps that I use a lot to motivate and track my activity. I’ve already mentioned Runkeeper, which also lets you track activities other than running. You can find friends so that you can see each other’s activities, or you can share your achievements on Facebook if you want to be really shouty about it.

Withings Health Mate is also good as it tracks weight, activity, blood pressure and sleep (you need extra gadgets for some of those). I use it to track weight and activity. It takes data from Runkeeper and also my daily step count, and it gives me a daily step total.

Daily Abs Workout is a free app that gives you a quick 5 minute workout for the core muscles that you can do at home any time of day. The videos show you how you should be doing it, and gives you a count-down for each exercise. The upgraded version is not expensive and gives you more workout options and removes the annoying adverts! I am just getting back into this after a break, and I remember that last time I used it regularly the exercises definitely got easier as time went on, which means my core muscles were getting stronger.

Myfitnesspal is an app with a massive library of foods and recipes, so if you are calorie counting this one is for you. I used it for a while to see what my calorie intake was, which really helped to understand portion sizes and make informed decisions about what I was taking in as fuel.

Find your perfect moment

Juggling to find the time (Image: miastylemamma.com)

Finding the time for exercise is a challenge when you’re a busy working mum, but once you’ve identified a slot or an opportunity then you can build exercise into your routine. For instance: Jog whilst your child cycles to school/clubs; Liftshare to drop your kid off at a party and jog back home; Go for a swim whilst your child is at Brownies/Scouts; or do some crunches whilst the kids watch TV.

Any activity is better than none, so don’t beat yourself up if you are not initially meeting your high expectations. A short run is better than none at all, and swapping a car journey for a cycle will notch up some miles.

Have you ever had that moment when your carefully created baked goods look nothing like the picture on Pinterest or the magazine? Well, I challenge you to trump this!

My daughter was keen to do some baking and wanted to copy a recipe from American Girl magazine. It’s for Pink glittery cookies with Hershey’s nested inside. Despite my reservations about the way they look (nipples? dog poo? something else?) and the distinct lack of Hersheys in our house we thought we would give it a go – here’s what their cookies look like in the magazine spread.

They remind me of something….

The first challenge was to convert the US measurements (cups) into grams, and then I left my darling Junior Baker to it whilst I supervised from a safe distance…

Now I know you may claim that I am washing my hands of this baking disaster, but my role was clear as kitchen assistant (when called for), oven operative and clean up crew.

I admit to giving assistance in the following manner:

1. measuring out the icing sugar so that the cloud of dust didn’t envelop the entire kitchen

2. stirring in the bits that she missed

3. helping cover the gloop in sugar crystals

4. putting into, and subsequently taking out of hot oven

5. cleaning up the mess

Now I have that clear I can reveal the true extent of our baking disaster….

What the??

I suspect that Junior Baker got a bit carried away with the Baking Powder and/or Bicarbinate of Soda measurement and thought that the idea of bubbles in the mixture sounded really good. I don’t think we have ever seen anything quite so bad come out of our oven!

Now, I challenge you to follow this recipe and do a better job than we did!!